


Famosity's Takeover

by ab2fsycho



Series: The Candle Cult [13]
Category: The Candle Cult
Genre: Famosity is taking over, Honey bunch is hiding, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 00:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6590254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ab2fsycho/pseuds/ab2fsycho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some fight, others hide. Tea and his companions are among those who hide.</p><p>Alternately titled: The Storm Shall Pass</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

What was supposed to be a fun night out for Tea, Gabriel, Serena, and Lola had very quickly turned into disaster. As soon as news had broken out of the unleashed unicorn, Tea had split from the scene and run straight for his room.

There he grabbed Aiden, Gemmy, and Luster and told them it was time to go.

There was a loud hissing in his brain. “I know, okay?” But the forest was alive, more alive than typical. They needed a place to hide and this was the only one he had thought of in his mad rush to grab supplies and run.

And that place still smelt of ash from when it had been destroyed. Still, he struggled against the roots and vines threatening to grow over the door and yanked it open. The ruin of his old bunker would do.

“Who are you talking to?” Aiden asked, staring nervously about the wood that was writhing to life at the behest of the unicorn. Bags slung over both their shoulders, they shifted them as Aiden and Tea started descending into the ground.

“Gemmy. He hates this place.” And for good reason. Tea had kept him shackled here after all. But if they had a chance of avoiding conflict, they needed to hide somewhere away from the manor and away from Famosity. Besides, Luster was already cooing to him and calming the earwig down.

“Where are they?” Aiden asked, eyes wide as he turned to look at Tea. Tea pinned him with a gimlet stare as if he should know the answer to that question, and Aiden’s stare turned into a glare. “Brush your teeth.”

“After you,” Tea retorted.

They went further down before reaching what used to be his one room hideaway from cult and headquarters. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

As they dropped their bags, Tea ignored the remark and glimpsed about the room. Yes, it wreaked of smoke. Yes, roots and vines had already taken apart what remained of furniture and a cage and whatever else seemed manmade. Still, it was a den. A cell. A retreat until the fight was settled.

And Aiden was already shaking and breathing shallowly at the familiarity of being stuck in a cell-like structure. “Hey,” Tea whispered. “Hey, listen--”

“Can’t we go anywhere else?” Aiden asked quickly, clutching his own bag like a lifeline.

Tea sighed, then moved over to his lover. Pulling the back from him, he pulled him into a gentle hold. Aiden stiffened, Tea keeping his arms loose. Rubbing the former Puppeteer’s back, he whispered, “I wish there was another option.” But he didn’t want to fight Famosity. He didn’t want to go against Tapi either. He didn’t want anymore conflict. He just wanted to wait this one out and keep a hold of the most stabilizing part of his life at the moment. “If we could make to Eventide,” and if the forest didn’t already start dismantling the little town, “I would say let’s do it.” But they probably wouldn’t make it. “We’ll sleep it out, okay?” Goddammit, he was shaking too. He was reenvisioning the last time he had actually been here.

And it damn near froze him.

The only thing that saved him was Gemmy’s hiss in his mind and Aiden’s hold on his body. They could do this. They could sit this one out.

They just needed to stay hidden and stay safe. 

Stay together.

They would be fine.


	2. Chapter 2

Much of Tea’s time was spent watching Aiden sleep. He heard fire and greenery shifting above, but couldn’t bring himself to ignore it or do anything about it. He just lay paralyzed, wrapped around his lover and staring at the destroyed walls of his old bunker. He shuddered to remember all of what he had hidden from in this place.

And Gemmy hissed constantly.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again as Aiden tightened his hold on Tea. Tea sighed, his chest strung painfully and his eyes watering. He wanted to shake Aiden awake and get him to talk to him about something. Anything. Tea just wanted a distraction from the world above and the angry earwig in his head.

“Perhaps I might be able to help.” It was Luster’s voice, clear in his head as if he were right behind Tea. Tea stiffened, clutching Aiden to him. Aiden responded with an indiscernible grumble as he too tightened his hold. “You should rest.” Tea shook his head, and Gemmy hissed even louder. Luster hissed back in return, and Gemmy quieted. “If I can sway you to sleep, I can give you a world away from this.”

Tea’s eyes scanned the ground above them. His nostrils had long gone numb from the residual smell of smoke. He wanted to believe Luster. He wanted to escape this somehow. He just . . . he remembered the last invasion. The last big battle. Tears fell. “N-nightmares,” was the only explanation he could offer to the butterfly. The last thing he needed was to awaken and think he was once again at the mercy of the Puppeteers.

All because Tapi and Famosity were engaging in a however many years old civil war.

“Nightmares are not all I can do. You yourself know this.” Tea squinted at the accusation, then understood when Luster tacked on, “Dreamwalker.”

It wasn’t untrue. Tea had gained the ability to dreamwalk through his connection to Gemmy. Gemmy had only recently let him know the ins and outs of using this ability. And Tea found himself stopping nightmares more often than causing them. “How can I sleep?” How? With all of this happening, how did Luster expect him to . . . ?

He started getting drowsy. He couldn’t . . . think . . . he was . . . .

Floating.

He was drifting away from the noises above them.

Away from Aiden.

The last thing he heard before he had sunk into a deep slumber was, “I will help you.”

\--

“I’m cold,” the small raven-haired child murmured, shivering and holding himself. King sighed and pulled the child into his plumage, but he himself provided very little warmth to him. Aiden hesitantly snuggled close for a moment, finding only the smallest bit of comfort in the sound of a small heart beating in the bird’s chest. There was still so much to get used to in this body and with this terrifying protector. So little he understood.

There was a howling in the distance and Aiden froze. King hissed to himself, then pulled away. “Stay put,” he ordered.

“No. No, wait—!” It was too late. The raven was taking off.

Aiden was alone.

He whimpered, crouching beneath a tree and holding his legs against his chest. Shuddering, he looked around with wide and frightened eyes.

He heard a voice behind him he didn’t recognize and jumped. Yelping, he almost didn’t make out the quiet question, “Would you like to be warm?”

Aiden couldn’t see the perpetrator, which scared him more. When he did see them, he gasped and nearly ran. His new heart pounded in his chest and he started to cry. “Please don’t eat me.” He’d seen how King fed. Would this creature do the same?

It stepped into the light, and Aiden took in the familiar shape of a bear. Only it didn’t sound like a bear. It cooed and hissed and reassured him verbally, “I will not eat you, Aiden.”

“How do you know my name?” the child asked. He held himself again, accepting the bear’s assurances at face value for some strange reason as he rubbed at his freezing limbs. “Why are you here?”

“I am your friend. And I am here to take you someplace warm.”

The small child looked down at the bear’s and his feet. Then glanced over his shoulder to where King had flown. “I can’t—”

“I will bring you back safely. He will never know you are gone.”

Aiden made a small noise of insecurity. It was cold. He was cold. The bear offered warmth. Maybe . . ., “You promise?” The bear nodded once. Thinking about it for a moment longer, Aiden started to get up slowly. “Okay.”

He moved over to the bear, whose neck he hugged while its head lowered to drape over his shoulder and back. Aiden sighed and shuddered. He was already so much warmer than King.

He completely overlooked the pair of antennae brushing over the back of his head in his weariness and need for warmth.

\--

It had taken him mere moments to blink to life in his mindscape, only to realize how close to the edge of it he was. Neither Gemmy nor Luster were within sight.

But he could no longer hear the atrocities above him.

He sighed in relief, and took in his surroundings. He recognized the mindscape that lay just beside his almost instantly. Tea had ventured into Aiden’s mind before. At least, he had tried to. King had always been standing guard, a warden of the former Puppeteer’s dream world.

But on this night he had been brought here by Luster, no doubt an attempt to comfort the stressed Chandelier. For once he was in his own body. He was not a child hiding, but his adult self. He was only ever able to do this when he was walking along the edge of someone else’s mind, or had the help of one of the Phobias. He was tempted to wander about in all of his awareness. By now, he knew which parts of the forest in which pain lived. He wouldn’t dare enter those. He also felt like he should not move from the spot the butterfly had placed him, though he expected the raven to approach him at any moment now.

“Tea.” He looked up at the voice. It was Luster, and he was coming from the other’s mindscape.

Tea stood stock still, not quite believing the other really was coming from Aiden’s mind. “What are you doing?” Hadn’t King come after him? King would surely recognize an intruder, even one as well disguised as Luster currently was.

“Bringing you a something to ease your mind for a time,” Luster declared as he approached without falter.

Tea’s brow furrowed. “Bringing me something?” It was only then that Tea realized Luster was carrying someone on his back. Tea’s eyes widened. The someone was draped over the Phobia, hands buried in brown fur and head of hair almost as rough and matted. “You didn’t.”

“The raven was distracted,” Luster said, coming to stand before Tea as the half skinwalker moved to his side. “He’s quite asleep.” Tea was . . . mystified. He . . . he had never seen Aiden. So young. So . . . small. Aiden had always seemed large to him. Even now when Tea stood head and shoulders above him whilst awake, Aiden was not small. He joked about how he could rest his head on top of the other’s easily, but that was it.

Aiden had never been a child to him. Always the elder and always the one who did the looking after.

Still, he felt right gathering the boy up in his arms to free up Luster’s back. Aiden whined, turning his face into Tea’s neck and burying his nose in his collar. Small arms wrapped around his shoulders as Tea supported him against his torso. Though the other was small and his voice just as small, he asked drowsily in an almost adult tone, “Whatchu doing, punk?”

Tea’s chest vibrated with the need to laugh, but he withheld it. Squeezing Aiden tight, he declared, “Go the fuck to sleep,” just as Aiden had done to him several times.

“Watch your language, little shit.” It was like talking to Aiden when Tea was twelve and the older was the object of his fascination. Luster watched, cooing and purring as his antennae dragged over Aiden’s back and Tea’s arms. Aiden kept his eyes closed and his face buried in Tea’s neck as Tea swayed gently. Luster settled before them and Tea could hear a distant yowl. Ah, he thought. Gemmy was the distraction to the raven. Of course he was. The earwig could never be bothered with pleasantries such as this. Aiden clung to Tea, whispering a quiet, “You’re warm.”

Tea rubbed Aiden’s back soothingly as he settled on the ground, keeping the child Aiden against him the whole time. “If you say so,” he murmured absently. He couldn’t stop staring at him. He was just so . . . unreal. Adorable.

And he grew up to be such a sweet asshole, Tea couldn’t help but laugh at the transition. Curling closer to Tea, Aiden whispered, “I do say so.” Just when he thought the other was finally drifting off, fingers clutching at Tea’s coat and a small hum escaping his throat, Aiden muttered absently, “Sugarplum.”

Tea paused, then buried his own nose in the boy’s hair. Affectionately purring and rocking the other back to sleep, he guarded him while Luster did the same for him.

\--

Aiden stirred, finding himself in the arms of someone much larger than him. At the forefront of his mind, he thought to panic. And initially, he did. His heart was beating rapidly and his hands balled in the material of the clothes the person was wearing. But then he inhaled . . . .

And one word raced through his mind.

Actually . . . at first he thought it was one word. He thought it was the word ‘safety.’ That didn’t make sense. But then he heard it as two distinct words.

Safe.

Tea.

Tea . . . Rowan. He was with Rowan.

The back of his mind told him to settle and calm, but the forefront was still eaten up with anxiety. Still, he closed his eyes and inhaled again. He found himself . . . relaxing. Relaxing in the hold.

Something feathery brushed over his cheek and he wrinkled his nose. “Luster . . . .” Aiden wasn’t sure whether that was a name or even a word. It had just come spilling from his mouth as the giant holding him squeezed him and rubbed his back.

“Shhh,” Tea murmured. “You’re alright.” Aiden nodded as if his head were on hinges, actually burying himself deeper in the other’s hold. So warm. He was so warm. So warm and comfortable. When the giant’s arms loosened on him, Aiden actually whined. The larger chuckled, squeezing again. “How are you doing?”

“Warm,” was his only response.

“Good.” He could hear the smile in Tea’s voice. Tea was his name. Right? Who would name someone Tea . . . ? You would, said the back of his mind. You named him. Aiden didn’t tense. Instead, he smiled. He nuzzled the giant’s neck, feeling the other hum as he wrapped his small arms around his shoulders to the best of his ability. “Punk,” he declared.

Tea snorted. “You’re the punk.”

“Nuh,” he murmured as feathers brushed over the back of his neck in lieu of his cheek. “You’re the . . . punk.”

“Nope. It’s you.”

Aiden was the one who snorted this time. “Rowan?”

There was a pause. A long pause. It made his heart flutter to a halt for a moment. Then came the quiet half response, “Yeah?”

Aiden blinked his eyes open and looked up at the giant, who watched him so intently. Golden eyes like that should scare him . . . .

But these ones belonged to his Rowan.

“Would you . . . stay here? Don’t let me be alone?” He felt himself shrink at the request, which left him feeling weak.

The watering of the giant’s eyes made him feel bad at first. Then he was struck with relief at the words, “Of course I will.” The next thing he knew he was being hugged tight to the other’s chest. “I won’t leave you.”

The warmth penetrated him then, flooding his chest. He hugged back hard.

\--

Luster watched as Aiden went from drowsy to talkative to dead asleep to belligerent again. As Gemmy continued to harass the bird so he did not return to the spot from which the butterfly had taken the child, Luster touched the faces of the two mostly humans before him. Tea lay on the ground with the small boy draped across his torso, both resting. Luster felt for their emotions, and found them content. He cooed to them, losing his bear form and taking his more natural, Phobia shape. Curling up on the legs of the giant, he lay across both gently. He covered most of the child’s body, resting his head on Aiden’s back. Aiden groaned out his name again in agitation, wriggling slightly under the Phobia. Tea hummed in his sleep and reached a palm up to gently scratch at Aiden’s scalp. The child calmed instantly.

Observing the two a moment longer, Luster cooed. He purred to them that he would do this without a price. After all, the two of them had reunited him with his mate. It seemed a decent enough repayment, ensuring they rather enjoyed their rest while the world around them writhed and burned.

From what he’d seen in their minds, they deserved this time together.

They all deserved a bit of peace and happiness after the roughness they had been dealt.


End file.
